Jun. 17, 2019. By Assistant Minister Rev. Sarah Caine. This is my last blog for UUCF. While we’ve known since very early in the congregational year that 2018-19 would be the end of my time at UUCF, it still feels like it has gone so quickly. We started some good work here together and I’m very proud to have been the assistant minister for this wonderful congregation. You have helped shape my journey and allowed me to use my skills in ministry with your blessings – including ordination, something I worked toward with 3 years in seminary, 1 year in residence as a hospital chaplain, 1 year working in ministry while creating a packet to summarize everything I’ve done since starting the path and culminating in an interview with the Ministerial Fellowship Committee in Boston. Your love and support affirm a calling that means I dedicate myself to deep connection to both the peak and valley experiences of humanity. By giving myself to this work, I am not allowing myself to shy away from all that is our world and our doing. I am promising to call those around me back to our, as Howard Thurman writes, High Resolve. It can be exhausting work. It is easy to be tempted to turn away and distract oneself from the truth, be it positive or negative as even growth toward our best selves means struggle. In moments of doubt, I am able to include the soul-lifting day of ordination and the subtle moments of pastoral care conversations in the encouragement to continue on this path. On Sunday, I’ll preach my last sermon as UUCF’s assistant minister. With the monthly theme of beauty in mind, I plan to highlight all the beauty found within this community. How you care for each other by volunteering to bring meals or give rides to those in need. How you give time and talent teaching our young ones. The ways that learning to hone active listening as part of the Pastoral Care Associates means you hold space when people are in times of stress. There is so much to love about this place, and so much to build on as you continue to practice the Beloved Community here. Thank you, UUCF, for the time and care you have given me these last 2 years.